Intrada Soundtrack Forum

Do you remember ? There was a time when action meant ORCHESTRA. The mid 90's where a heaven for symphonic action music in my opinion. Digital audio quality had gained a level never reached until then, and the orchestrations had come to their most complex peak. Today's new kids on the block should listen more carefully to these action cues and let down their loud synthetic loop drums. Those guys knew what they were doing...

STARSHIP TROOPERS, Tango Urilla (Basil Poledouris), 1997.


TERMINAL VELOCITY, Cadillac Freefall (Joel McNeely), 1994.


CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, Ambush (James Horner), 1994.


What are yours ??

Many of my favorite all-out action cues that lift me up have some synth accompaniment, with two immediate examples being "Escape from Torture" from First Blood Part II and "Battle at Piz Gloria" from On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ir2Mtz-ByHY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkWX5Wo-Xao


For predominantly orchestral stuff fitting the specifications of this thread, two obvious picks are "We're Leaving" ("Hollywood Blvd. Chase" on the previous album) from Lethal Weapon and "The Train" from The Legend of Zorro.

Oh yes, those two are absolutely breathtaking ! James Horner has a real talent for building long action cues while renewing the narrative interest of that cue during the whole lenght...
The Train is fantastic example of that, War from Avatar as well...

The "Final Battle" from Rambo III (but includes synths).

"Slave Children Cruzade" from Temple of Doom

"Escape From Suburbia" from Poltergeist

"The Box"(percussion overlay version) From Flesh & Blood - Basil Poledouris

"Lions Attack" From The Ghost and the Darkness - Jerry Goldsmith

"Bacchanalia" From Lord of the Flies - Philippe Sarde

There are just so many, but rather than my standard Jerry or Johnny picks, I am going with one very close to my heart, Patrick Doyle's amazingly epic climax "Grand Central" from CARLITO'S WAY. This thing is a juggernaut that builds and builds the tension and the high powered action to a practically unbearable point of frenzied but disciplined excitement (just like the scene it accompanies). I don't think it's much of a stretch to hear this as a massive homage to Benny Herrmann it his most frenetic.

http://youtu.be/Lte4DyZGxAQ

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Randy Wilson
Dallas, TX

The Warriors (Barry De Vorzon) La La Land

The Transformers (Vince DiCola) Intrada

Rocky IV (Vince DiCola) Intrada

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Holy Grail: Over The Top/ Best Of The Best / COBRA/ Beverly Hills Cop ( /Showdown)

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Holy Grail: Over The Top/ Best Of The Best / COBRA/ Beverly Hills Cop ( /Showdown)

Stealing The Enterprise From Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (James Horner, 1984)
or alternatively
Battle in the Mutara Nebula From Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (James Horner, 1982)

The Battle of Yavin From Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (John Williams, 1977)

Coast Guard Rescue From The Perfect Storm (James Horner, 2001)

[color=#BF0000]For me, any of the action tracks from Goldsmith's KING SOLOMON'S MINES...all orchestra, and no synth!

My apologies for the late reply - these may seem a little obvious but they are spine tingling cues at the highest volume:
Pilot Over - Rambo II
Bishops Countdown - Aliens
Hot Water - Outland

Rowing Of The Galley Slaves from Ben-Hur and The Balloon Sequence from Mysterious Island. The third I'll have to think about.

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"I used to worry about losing my mind. Now that I've lost it I don't worry about it anymore." -Wavy Gravy

Escape to Freedom - Rambo II (Goldsmith) (as well as others)
Gizmo Saves the Day - Gremlins (Goldsmith)
Monster Storm - Supergirl (Goldsmith)
Race against the clock - Brainstorm (Horner)
Hollywood Boulevard Chase - Lethal Weapon (Kamen)
End Of A Dream - Total Recall (Goldsmith) (as well as others)
Truck Chase - Raiders Of The Lost Ark (Williams)

To Name a few.... Couldn't name just three sorry!!

They don't write them like they used to - we could go on forever:
The Mine Car Chase - Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
The Asteroid Field - The Empire Strikes Back
Roxy Loses - Basic Instinct
The Dogs Attack (the last part) - The Omen
Breakout LP version - Capricorn One
Nightmare at 20000ft - Twilight Zone the Movie
No Escape - Planet of the Apes
Escape Bubbles - Leviathan
Hand of Fate - Signs
Riding the Fire Mares - Krull
I will leave it there for now!